Nov. 9, 2010 Report
John Wilson (R) ran for the New York State Assembly 37 seat against Cathy Nolan (D) last week and, as expected, suffered a heavy defeat. At the request of this site, he was asked to say a few words. They are as follows:
“This past Summer was to be my Summer of learning my wife’s native language and visiting her family in Europe (she has not seen them since 2004). That took a back seat to this campaign. No one else would undertake it; I felt I had to. I may have been naive about the process; and, the political arena was unfamiliar to me; but, I found that my new Party, the GOP, though far from perfect, is the right one for me. As a former Democrat, I believe many other current Democrats would also switch parties if they took the time to take inventory of their core beliefs. I had one lady tell me that she did not want to hear my views, because, she might agree with me if she did; and, she could not abide that possibility. This is not an uncommon position in New York.
With one exception, I am proud of the way I waged my campaign. There was one early candidates’ forum in Ridgewood where, though it was not my intention, I learned–by watching a videotape–that I was coming off as angry, arrogant, and vicious. I was appalled, and resolved to communicate in a more gentlemanly manner. I apologized to Catherine Nolan, telling her that while I stood by the gist of what I said, the way I had said it in Ridgewood was over the top. Thereafter, I believe I was civil; I know I was cheerful.
I was surprised at the final results. I knew that winning was almost impossible, but thought I’d achieve a higher percentage. However, I started late, received my first donation in August, and never surpassed $4,000.00. Nolan had multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars on hand; still does. I knocked on many doors; but, in the end, I only contacted a small fraction of the Republicans in the District–and even fewer Democrats.
I made new friends that will last a lifetime; and, I feel a responsibility to them. I had worked–and will continue to work–to solve the terribly sad urban feral cat problem (through the Trap, Neuter, Return policy of groups like www.neighborhoodcats.org and www.careforcats.org); but, I have learned how important it is to connect with my human neighbors, too, through various civic groups. And, I will.
I will almost certainly run for office again. Even more certain, I will work on behalf of other Republican candidates as we seek to liberate New York from the tyranny of One Party Rule. New York needs to reduce the size of State Government to stop out of control spending, reduce taxes, create jobs, remove the “cap” on the number of Charter Schools, and stave off financial ruin. I have held Catherine Nolan’s feet to the fire. I intend to turn up the heat on her and other members of her Dem/Working Families Party coalition who value public sector unions, their convenience, and their contributions more than they value the rest of us. I sincerely thank all those who voted for and/or supported me; and I thank those who voted against me, but took the time to listen to my positions. That’s all I could have asked for.
